Josiah and Keziah Beardsley
)Age as of the end of Written in My Own Heart's Blood. |Deathdate= |Marital= Married |Alias= |Title= |Gender= Male |Height= |Hair= Black |Eyes= Black |Skin= Fair |Spouse=*Lizzie Wemyss (wife) |Children=*Rodney Beardsley (son) *Unnamed daughter *Unnamed son |Extended=*Joseph Wemyss (father-in-law) *Aaron Beardsley (master) † *Fanny Beardsley (mistress) |Occupation= Hunters |Clan= |Nationality= U.S. American |fiery=true|breath=true|echo=true|written=true |Actor =Paul Gorman |Seasons =season5 }} Josiah and Keziah Beardsley, or Jo and Kezzie, are identical twin brothers who were indentured to Aaron and Fanny Beardsley. They are skilled hunters, and a bit feral, owing to fending for themselves in the backcountry for most of their lives. Personal History Jo and Kezzie were orphaned young, around age two or three, during their family's passage from Europe to the colonies. Without any relatives to pay the family's debt for the voyage, the ship's captain sold the twins, to be indentured for thirty years against the debt. A man named Aaron Beardsley bought their indenture and brought them to his homestead as servants. Around age five, Keziah suffered an injury that caused a pronounced deafness. Events of the Novels ''The Fiery Cross In late October 1770, at the Gathering at Mount Helicon, Jamie Fraser asks Josiah to become his tenant—Jo is fourteen and therefore would not be called to join the militia, and has excellent hunting skills. Jo accepts Jamie's offer and promises to come to the Ridge in the winter, but first has some business to take care of. Jamie and Claire later learn that Jo has a twin brother, Kezzie, who still lives with Aaron Beardsley, and Jo wants to get him out of there. When Jo and his twin brother Kezzie arrive at the Ridge, Claire performs tonsillectomies on them—they are her first patients to be given her homemade penicillin. A Breath of Snow and Ashes In November 1774, Lizzie Wemyss reveals that she is pregnant, and the father of her child is one of the twins, but neither she nor they know which one. After Jamie Fraser handfasts Lizzie to Kezzie, she and the twins secretly go to Roger and ask him to marry Lizzie to Jo. Their son Rodney is born on April 19, 1775. An Echo in the Bone In March 1777, Lizzie gives birth to Jo or Kezzie's second child, a girl. Written in My Own Heart's Blood Upon Claire's return to the Ridge in spring 1779, she learns that in her absence Lizzie had another son, and is pregnant with the Beardsleys' fourth child. Personality Physical Appearance They are nearly identical—small and lithe, with thick dark hair, distinguished only by Kezzie’s deafness and the round scar on Jo’s thumb. However, after Jamie makes Kezzie to Lizzie, Jo gives the same mark to Kezzie so no one can easily tell who is who. Relationships Lizzie Wemyss Lizzie to Kezzie. While Jamie wasn't looking, Jo marked his twin's hand with a brand just like the one on his own, so they could no longer be distinguished that way. That same night, the trio visited Roger MacKenzie and asked him to marry Jo to Lizzie. Lizzie and the twins welcomed a healthy baby boy, Rodney Beardsley, in April 1775. The child became something of an olive branch between their family and Lizzie's father, who had not spoken to Lizzie after the whole affair played out the way it did. Their lifestyle was still considered taboo, but the official word in the backcountry was that Lizzie was married to Kezzie, and it was not uncommon for a married couple to live with one or the other's sibling. Jamie merely advised the family to use their discretion, and not to flaunt their unusual dynamic in front of Joseph. Since their dual marriages and the birth of their first son, they have welcomed a daughter in 1777, and another son in 1778. When the Frasers return to the Ridge in 1779, Lizzie is expecting her fourth child. }} Name *'Josiah''' means "Yaweh supports" in Hebrew.Behind the Name: Josiah - accessed 02 June 2016 *'Keziah' is from the Hebrew name קְצִיעָה (Qetzi'ah) meaning "cassia, cinnamon", from the name of the spice tree.Behind the Name: Keziah - accessed 02 June 2016 *'Beardsley' is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and is a locational name from some minor, unrecorded or now "lost" place, believed to have been situated in Nottinghamshire or Leicestershire where the name is most popular.Surname Database: Beardsley - accessed 02 June 2016 Trivia *While identical, the twins can be distinguished by Kezzie's pronounced deafness. References Category:Characters Category:18th century characters Category:Characters in The Fiery Cross Category:Characters in A Breath of Snow and Ashes Category:Characters in An Echo in the Bone Category:Characters in Written in My Own Heart's Blood Category:American characters Category:Characters in Season 5 Category:Male characters